decidióvsdividióConfusable pair

Which to use

“decidió” and “dividió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,893
“decidió” frequency rank
#19,703
“dividió” frequency rank
21596
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decidió dividió
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de decidir o de decidirse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de dividir o de dividirse.

Where the eye mixes decidió and dividió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. decidió and dividió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
decidió
7 ch
dividió

Look-alike desk: decidió vs dividió

A purely visual mix-up. decidió ([d̪esiˈð̞jo]) and dividió ([d̪iβ̞iˈð̞jo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21596, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decidió is recorded at frequency rank #1,893, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esiˈð̞jo]. dividió is at rank #19,703, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪iβ̞iˈð̞jo].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 21596, this pair ranks #254,211 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of decidió vs dividió

Shared letters: dió. Private to "decidió": ce. Private to "dividió": v.

"decidió" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "dividió" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "decidió" and "dividió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esiˈð̞jo] versus [d̪iβ̞iˈð̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "decidió" or "dividió"?
"decidió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,893 in our Spanish list, against #19,703 for "dividió". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "decidió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dividió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,211 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decidió" and "dividió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dividía vs dividió". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #254,211 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list